Technology—in this case, teleradiology and IT—is radically changing radiology. Ever-expanding IT capabilities that have transformed numerous industries, from banking to publishing to retail, are increasingly making their presence felt in healthcare. Digital imaging, record keeping, and reporting provide enabling technologies for teleradiology, which many believe will dramatically alter radiology competition. IT’s role in this process was a central theme of the closing general session, “The Flattened World as the New Enterprise: Threats, Opportunities, and the Role of Imaging IT,” at the Society for Imaging Informatics in Medicine (SIIM) annual meeting last month in Charlotte, N.C.

Paul J. Chang, MD, moderated a panel that included Eliot L. Siegel, MD; Richard H. Wiggins, III, MD; William D. Keyes, MD; and J. Raymond Geis, MD, and included questions and comments from the audience. The session’s two main focuses were the threat that technology and teleradiology create new competition among radiologists and what role imaging IT professionals should play in that evolving process.

I covered this fascinating session at SIIM. Read the full report on this session in the July 27 issue of Radiology Today

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The headline number comes from the most recent quarterly reports from Virtual Radiologic Corporation (VRC) and NightHawk Radiology Services. Each of the two public telerad companies serves more than 1,000 hospitals and other medical facilities.

For the period ending June 30, VRC reported revenues of $30.6 million and net income of $2.4 million, compared with net income of $2 million in the quarter last year. Both revenue and net income were up from one year ago.

Nighthawk’s second-quarter report will be out next week, but its first-quarter filing report revenue of $38.8 million (down from $41.7 million in 2008) and adjusted net income of $4 million (down from $4.2 million in 2008).

To me, the large number of teleradiology customers for just two companies tells the most about teleradiology’s growing impact on radiology practice. The growing impact is growing larger practices.

I certainly hope malpractice reform becomes part of healthcare reform. Here’s why: Everyone involved will have to give something for meaningful reform and cost control to become a reality. You just know that any cost-control plan will target provider reimbursement in some way. History won’t let me believe anything else.

Providers should get something in exchange. Radiologists and other doctors need malpractice relief. A stricter malpractice litigation environment could give physicians something valuable in return for taking that impending hit. That said, you have to wonder how President Obama plans to reduce malpractice suits. Obama doesn’t favor placing caps on malpractice awards like many physicians and Republicans (and presumably Republican physicians) desire. Read the rest of this entry »

Radiologists have been buzzing about “predatory” imaging organizations that come into their towns and—bolstered by teleradiology support—force out or assimilate the incumbent radiology group. While the chatter about these takeover situations exceeds the actual number of them, there are three crucial take-home points for radiology groups. First, technology has made it easier to displace and replace a local radiology group—even yours. Read the rest of this entry »

This article from Time is just fascinating. Harvard researchers investigating fMRI’s possible use as a lie detector test found evidence that the images produced while test subjects were lying looked very similar to the images produced when they we contemplating lying, but told the truth. That certainly has some implications. Don’t plan on using your imaging center’s magnet for a little cash-on-the-barrel ancillary income from truth testing anytime soon.

Radiology practices—and for that matter, all medical providers—that understand and deal with changing patient expectations are much more likely to succeed in the increasingly competitive healthcare future. That truth is a major force shaping healthcare services. Diagnostic radiology may occupy a position somewhat insulated from the patient frontlines, but is still very much affected by these Internet-age patients. Your referring doctors feel the pressure from patients who want their scan and the results today (along with a latté). You feel it from your referrers.

“They are no longer patients,” Paul Chang, MD, told attendees in a session at last month’s Society of Imaging Informatics in Medicine annual meeting. “They are aggressive, intelligent healthcare consumers who have expectations and demands.” Read the rest of this entry »

You love commoditization when it keeps money in your pocket by pushing down the price of your flat-screen TV or the canned cat food for your fussy tabby. But what about when you are the target instead of the beneficiary?

“What we don’t like about commoditization is when it knocks on our door and says, ‘You know what? We don’t need you,’” Paul J. Chang, MD, FSIIM, told the audience during the closing session at last month’s annual meeting of the Society for Imaging Informatics in Medicine. And more than a few people in radiology fear that commoditization will come knock, knock, knockin’ on imaging’s door. The session featured a panel discussion with audience participation on the challenges and opportunities IT is bringing to radiology. Read the rest of this entry »